Wannabewoodsman
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So I want to say I am unfortunate to have never met the two grandfathers (one is a great-grandfather) I am going to talk about but I want to also delve into why I'm bringing them up.
For the longest time I've thought poorly about my great-grandpa, Amon Bieber. He fought, and killed, in the Great War. Yes, the first world war. As my dad tells it, Amon was a drunk, mean, sonuvabitch who couldn't hold a job and drank more than there was time in the day for. Given my very little understanding of the actual day-to-day life that these men went through, it's understandable. Horrible stories of rats eating the dead men who couldn't be buried or sent home, trench foot, poison gas, and perhaps the worst, close, personal, combat with violent, brutal and sometimes hand made weapons.
One day, years after the war, Amon decides it's best to blow his brains out with a shotgun.
His son, my grandfather, comes home and sees this. Decades later, Harlan, my grandfather, is drafted into the war and sent to Korea. He is an engineer in the Army.
Amon, I recently found out, came home with more than PTSD. Apparently he had his bayonet, a helmet, a rifle, some grape plants from France where I believe he fought (still growing to this day!) and some hand grenades. I'm not sure what Grandpa Harlan came home with or even did in the war.
Why am I bringing this up? "What's your point, dude?" I listened to a book, The Rifle, by Andrew Biggio, and he and I have similar desires to understand what it is the men in our families went through in war. I'm thinking about trying to find an M1 and doing what Andrew Biggio did but for Korean War Veterans. Unfortunately, they are the Forgotten Warriors but their stories are worth knowing. They deserve to be heard. If anyone knows where I can get military records please, let me know. Grandpa Harlan never spoke about Korea to my dad and I really want to have some connection with him.
If you aren't familiar with what I mean by "doing what Andrew Biggio did" then buy the book. Maybe you'll get some desires of your own.
For the longest time I've thought poorly about my great-grandpa, Amon Bieber. He fought, and killed, in the Great War. Yes, the first world war. As my dad tells it, Amon was a drunk, mean, sonuvabitch who couldn't hold a job and drank more than there was time in the day for. Given my very little understanding of the actual day-to-day life that these men went through, it's understandable. Horrible stories of rats eating the dead men who couldn't be buried or sent home, trench foot, poison gas, and perhaps the worst, close, personal, combat with violent, brutal and sometimes hand made weapons.
One day, years after the war, Amon decides it's best to blow his brains out with a shotgun.
His son, my grandfather, comes home and sees this. Decades later, Harlan, my grandfather, is drafted into the war and sent to Korea. He is an engineer in the Army.
Amon, I recently found out, came home with more than PTSD. Apparently he had his bayonet, a helmet, a rifle, some grape plants from France where I believe he fought (still growing to this day!) and some hand grenades. I'm not sure what Grandpa Harlan came home with or even did in the war.
Why am I bringing this up? "What's your point, dude?" I listened to a book, The Rifle, by Andrew Biggio, and he and I have similar desires to understand what it is the men in our families went through in war. I'm thinking about trying to find an M1 and doing what Andrew Biggio did but for Korean War Veterans. Unfortunately, they are the Forgotten Warriors but their stories are worth knowing. They deserve to be heard. If anyone knows where I can get military records please, let me know. Grandpa Harlan never spoke about Korea to my dad and I really want to have some connection with him.
If you aren't familiar with what I mean by "doing what Andrew Biggio did" then buy the book. Maybe you'll get some desires of your own.
